Chapter Five

                                    

                                          
Brad took a long time to fall back asleep and woke with a start when the alarm went off on his phone. 
His mind immediately continued on the thought train he had fallen asleep to. Was Paige okay? What had transpired between her and Steve? Why had she been crying? 
He got dressed, feeling thankful he would be in her department today. Perhaps it would give him a chance to talk to her.
He heard no sounds from upstairs, so he headed down, assuming both were downstairs already. 
Steve was sitting at the island, watching the news on his laptop while Paige was finishing making more coffee. There was a cup waiting for him next to a glass of water and a plate at the seat next to Steve. He sat and started serving himself off the plates of fried eggs, toast, and hash browns from the counter in front of them. 
Paige had her back to him, adding creamer to her coffee and pouring it into a black tumbler.  She was in an all-black suit with black pumps, and had her hair pulled back the same as the previous day. As she turned, he watched her carefully. She had on a dark teal crew-neck sweater under the suit coat, a long silver beaded necklace, and silver hoop earrings. Her face was incredibly pale and she had dark circles under her eyes. 
He was more bothered by her demeanor than her sickly appearance. She was subdued, not talking, moving slowly- none of which were characteristic of who she was. 
Steve clicked off his laptop and turned to Brad. "Paigie says you can ride with her now and then I'll see ya at five. We usually have pizza on Fridays so we'll order that later.  I was hopin' to get some yard work done tonight if you're interested in getting a work out in", he joked. 
"Sure thing", Brad agreed. 
Steve grabbed his lunch bag.  "See ya, hun", he said, stepping up to Paige and ducking his head down toward her. 
"Bye", she said quietly, distinctly turning her face away from him. 
Steve grabbed her chin and forced her face up to him, planting a kiss on her mouth, then walking out of the kitchen and out through the front door, letting the screen door bang closed behind him. 
It was lucky he hadn't turned back around, because if he had seen Brad's face, there would have been a confrontation.  Brad was incensed by what he had just seen and abruptly stood from his chair, moving to Paige's side before Steve had even left the house. 
She stared blankly after him. 
"What the hell was that", Brad growled quietly, standing over her. 
She continued staring after Steve, and replied apathetically, "I think he felt the need to pee all over his territory so the other wolves would know what belonged to him". 
Brad looked down at her. There was clearly a red circle on her chin from the pressure of Steve's thumb. He felt his head pounding with anger. He gently smoothed his own thumb over the spot and said in a quiet, threatening tone, "There's a mark here. I'm gonna go talk to him", and made a move to go past her. 
That shook her out of her daze. "No, Brad, don't!", she cried, looking panicked and grabbing hold of his arm. 
"He doesn't get to hurt you", Brad explained and continued moving unhindered, dragging her along with him. 
"He didn't-  he doesn't mean to", she insisted, changing tactics by wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest, holding on with all her strength to stop him. "Please don't. He's not mean, he's just really clueless". 
"What do you mean?  Are you okay?  Has he hurt you?"
He knew she was stalling him until Steve left but he couldn't pass up an opportunity to wrap his arms around her, so he dropped the idea of going after Steve and focused on her instead.